Tag Archives: Mickey Mouse

June 18, 1988 – The Meet-and-Greet Area Mickey’s Hollywood Theater Opens in Walt Disney World

On June 18, 1988, the special meet-and-greet area Mickey’s Hollywood Theater opened in the Mickey’s Birthdayland area of Magic Kingdom Park. It was designed to look like Mickey’s dressing room, so as to give guests the impression that they are meeting Mickey after his live show. Mickey’s Hollywood Theater remained after the area became Mickey’s Starland, but closed on March 11, 1996, when the area was remodeled to become Mickey’s Toontown Fair.

“Kingdom Hearts is an epic tale of adventure, heroism and, ultimately, the sacrifice of what is held dearest for the greater good.”

On May 14, 2002, the English version of the popular Japanese game Kingdom Hearts was announced through public release. Created through a partnership with Square Co., Ltd., and Disney Interactive, the 3D role playing game introduces players to the character Sora who, alongside Donald and Goody, set off on a mission to find their friends and protect the Disney Castle; this was also the first game where multiple Disney characters and their worlds co-existed in one platform. The English cast of the game included Haley Joel Osment as Sora, David Gallagher as Riku, and Hayden Panettiere as Kairi.

On May 1, 1999, the animated series Mickey MouseWorks premiered on ABC. The series sought to invoke the type of animated short films that were released in the early days of The Walt Disney Company, and featured several lesser known characters from that time, including Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow; the series, of course, also featured the more well-known characters such as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. The series ran for two seasons with 25 episodes; segments from these episodes were also featured in the series House of Mouse. The series officially ended on January 6, 2001.

April 21, 2006 – The U.S. Postal Service Issues New Art of Disney Stamps

“With this stamp pane, the U.S. Postal Service honors the art of romance as imagined by Walt Disney and his studio animators.”

On April 21, 2006, the United States Postal Services issued new sheets of the popular Art of Disney stamps, featuring classic Disney characters representing a common theme. This third set in the series is titled The Art of Disney: Romance, followed the other two themes of friendship and celebrations, and features Disney couples Cinderella and Prince Charming, Lady and the Tramp, Beauty and the Beast, and of course, Mickey and Minnie. The stamps were issued in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and were designed by David Pacheco from Burbank, California. The stamps were issued as 39 cent commemorative stamps.

On March 14, 1942, the cover of Liberty magazine featured popular Disney characters Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Dumbo, and Timothy Mouse. The characters were used to promote an article about filing income taxes that year, as a main message at the time was that Americans’ taxes would “beat the Axis” – a line from the Donald Duck short film The New Spirit. Disney character use was high at the time to help with the war effort, with their use ranging from military insignia to full-length goodwill films, such as Saludos Amigos.

On March 13, 1928, Walt Disney traveled back to California from New York with his wife Lillian, after negotiations with Charles Mintz about the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit had failed. Before leaving, Walt sent a telegram to his brother Roy reading: “LEAVING TONITE STOPPING OVER KC ARRIVE HOME SUNDAY MORNING SEVEN THIRTY DON’T WORRY EVERYTHING OK WILL GIVE DETAILS WHEN ARRIVE. WALT.” This telegram is usually associated with the myth of the creation of Mickey Mouse, as Disney announced when he got back to California that he lost Oswald but they would start a new series. Walt, Roy, and friend Ub Iwerks quickly set to work on the first Mickey Mouse cartoon Plane Crazy, which was shown in a nearby movie house on May 15, 1928, though they would not have their first real hit on their hands until Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928.

“…figures and toys of various materials, embodying design of comic Mice[sic] known as Minnie and Mickey Mouse, appearing in copyrighted motion pictures.”

On February 3, 1930, Roy Disney signed The Walt Disney Company’s first merchandising contract of what was to become a multi-million dollar merchandising empire. The contract was with the George Borgfeldt Company of New York, giving them the right to create figurines and toys of Mickey and Minnie Mouse; the first license that the Borgfeldt Company made was with a Swiss firm that created handkerchiefs with the characters’ likenesses. The returns on the products were not great for Disney, as they only received a 2.5% royalty on items that were 50cents or less (about $8.00 today), and 5% royalty on more expensive items.